A World Away
by exocontinual protocols
Summary: [You’re alone here, you’re alone, she told herself. The thought wasn’t as comforting as it was meant to be.] NitaKit
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: All I own is the annoying stomach bug that allowed me actual _free time_ (I was starting to think such a luxury was extinct) so I could write this.

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1.)

Nita bit into the large, fluffy cinnamon bun and let her eyes close in a the split-second ecstasy that was the warm steam floating up to the roof of her mouth and the soft, succulent morsel spreading blissfully over her tongue. But, with the first bite (she had had every intention of savoring it before chewing, but she got so lost in the sensation that she hadn't been thinking straight and took the bite instinctually) the steam was snuffed out, the sweet warmth cooled. And it was cold enough.

She shivered, pulling her jacket more securely around her, and hunching her shoulders further. It was no help. She quickened her pace.

She didn't have much farther to go, she kept telling herself. Just a little farther—

She felt a drop of rain on her head. Was it going to rain, finally? Anything would be better then this bitter cold, the overcast skies looming ahead, ever threatening, but seemingly waiting, making you feel as if you were walking headfirst into a trap.

But she saw nor felt no second drop. The stillness was unnerving. Even the plants were silent, though she hadn't been able to hear them as well lately as she had in the early days of her wizardry. She could feel a sense of mounting dread emanated from everything around her, though. It didn't do much to put her mind at ease.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw a flickering movement, white and silver, the sound of a high pitched scream—

It was a white picket, gate, swaying in the wind thought its silver hinges screamed in protest.

She let out a breath that she didn't realize she'd been holding; she hadn't been able to sort out the protesting of her lungs from the building pressure of the cutting fear rising inside her.

She picked up her feet and moved with urgent, jerky steps, walking as fast as possible without breaking into a run.

_You're alone here, you're _alone, she told herself. The thought wasn't as comforting as it was meant to be.

It was both true and a lie, in the worse senses of both.

_At least _he's_ here_, she thought. Though a little voice in the back of her mind was saying, _but with _Him_ here, he might not be anymore…_

That lit a fire under her. She began to run, frantically, desperately…

_Please, please, _please_…_

And there he was, a single silhouette, wonderfully, absurdly colorful against all the shades of grey and dreariest blue. She slowed, eventually coming to a stop just in front of him.

She realized the droplets falling at her feet weren't sweat or rain…

He reached out and began to wipe one of her tears away, and, suddenly realizing the intimacy of the action, began to move through it quickly, flicking the tear away almost impatiently, eager shove his hand back into the safety of his pocket. He wouldn't look at her, which was just as well as she was just as embarrassed as he was, though more because she was crying then because he was helping her hide the evidence. And also because of why she was crying, not for fear for herself, but because she was afraid for him…

He looked up at her suddenly, and gave her a small smile that she took to mean he'd heard that last thought.

"_Damn_," she muttered.

His smile grew, but it didn't reach his eyes, there was still so much fear and sadness there…she knew her own eyes must be no different.

She looked away, shifting awkwardly from foot to foot, not knowing what to do with herself.

"Why did we think it would be a good idea to split up, again?" she asked, eventually, her voice high pitched and shaky.

"I don't know," he said, his voice gruff. "I guess the shock overwhelmed our common sense."

They fell into silence again, neither looking at the other.

She felt the cinnamon bun in her hand and tossed it into a nearby trashcan. Suddenly she wasn't hungry anymore.

What _was_ this place? Another world, of course, but what was the point? What was He playing at, making a world that wasn't just empty, but seemed as though there _had_ been life as early as that morning, but it had been cruelly snatched away. That cinnamon bun had still had been hot, fresh out of the oven, and it didn't cook itself…

"Kit…" she started, but it was as far as she got before she doubled over, feeling as though the air had been knocked out of her.

That feeling was then replaced with queasiness. Everything was spinning, she didn't know if she was lying down or standing up. Then her world went black.

She heard Kit's alarmed shout, oh it sounded so far away…and then she couldn't hear anything but the sound of cold, cruel and all too familiar laughter.

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**AN: I started this a long time ago as an exercise to practice descriptions. Now I have a stomach bug, it's very annoying and very boring and found this when going through the files on my computer and decided to work on it. Reviews would make me very, very happy, and I could use something to make me happy today. Please and thank you!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: Is the word enough? You'd think anyone with a law degree would be smart enough to get the idea after that…

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2.)

Kit didn't know what to do. _Alone_. This whole place emanated a cold, haunting feeling of complete isolation. But he'd been able to take refuge in thoughts that she was here (though part of him wished she never had to set eyes on such a dreary place.) And, when thoughts weren't enough, he could close his eyes and focus on the part of his mind that had been awakened, or perhaps formed, with their first telepathic touch. The part where, when he focused, he could here the lulling hum of her mind (or was it her mind? Did such connections really happen there?) Even if he couldn't hear precise thoughts (though thoughts of hers were often coming in clear and sharp these days) he could feel her presence, however far away it was. But now she lay at his feet and feeling more wretchedly lost to him then she had since they'd arrived at this horrible place.

She was breathing but had lost clearly consciousness. She'd been full of life just a moment ago, the adrenaline and fear coursing through her making her painfully _there_, a vision of heartbreaking clarity. What had happened?

He dropped to his knees beside her. Perhaps intentionally but he wasn't thinking straight enough to do something so rational and he had lost all feeling in his legs. Though he couldn't claim he was feeling any part of his body, really, other than his eyes revolving in their sockets as they skimmed her desolate form.

Her hair was fanning out around her on the damp, dirty sidewalk and her legs were twisted hazardously to the side while her stomach faced skyward. It looked so uncomfortable that he wanted to move them but that would require touching them which would just cause a whole new set of problems. He needed to stay focused…

She looked so pale, so delicate…

_**She ate the food.**_

Kit started and looked up to find a familiar, sinisterly handsome face smiling down at him. He would have given anything to banish that twisted smirk from his face…

_**Don't be so distraught, she'll wake soon enough. Not in perfect condition, though I'm sure she won't realize it. But, what does it matter to you? You can get on well enough on your own, can't you? You can figure out away out of here without your precious partner…**_

The voice graded his skull. The scraping felt so real, so solid and tangible, that Kit wouldn't have been surprised if it was a spark from the friction spiraling off into his heart that ignited the raging fire inside him. There was no doubt the flame had originated in his heart…

But, then, slowly, the voice's affects seemed to recede, and the anger was pushed away by curiosity and confusion, until it was nothing more then a simmer in the background, plaguing his heart while he was lost in his head…

He felt strange…removed…

_**You think you can ignore me?**_

And Kit did ignore this, or tried to, his mind being otherwise occupied, wrapped up in worried, worrying thoughts…

_**You'll see your mistake soon enough.**_

Kit was relieved when the figure faded away and its mind voice along with it, now he could concentrate…

Nita stirred slightly.

_Nita!_

She nearly blended into the sidewalk, now. Even the brightness of her clothing seemed subdued…How could he have forgotten her? Had he truly forgotten her? What was wrong with him?

Almost unconsciously he reached out to touch her cheek, reveling at the softness of it and the…the…_something_ in the contact that squeezed his lungs of air and made him feel dangerously alive.

She stirred again and he jerked hand away. What was _wrong_ with him?

Other then the fact that he had fallen for his best friend, that is…

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**AN: I still feel awful, but I won't traumatize you with the details. A short chapter but it was out quickly, at least. It's not very good, though, especially compared to the first one. Describing emotions is what I really need practice at, I'm pretty decent at settings and things. That said, constructive criticism would be welcome with open arms, along with any other kind of feedback. **


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: Nada.

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3.)

Nita was standing up, though nothing recognizable as a solid surface was under her. Everything was dark and she shivered.

_**You ate the food…**_

She had, she _had_, oh she was so stupid…

…_or not_, she thought as she found her eyes fluttering open to see Kit's worried face hovering above them. _But…it can't be that easy…_

"Nita!" he cried.

She sat up, looking around as if seeing everything anew. It all _looked_ genuine enough, grays and the occasional colored vision, protruding curves and sharpened angles, refracted light and sinister shadows; yes it _appeared_ to be real, yet strangely…less so…

"Nita! _Nita_!" he said, putting a hand on her arm when she didn't respond.

She jumped slightly at the unexpected touch and turned to him, surprised. He looked like he didn't know whether to be worried, relieved or angry, yet, as much as these emotions were clearly directed at her, the look seemed faraway.

"You ate the food!" he burst finally.

_I know, I know, _she thought, angry with herself. _Yet, I _seem_ to be alright. Maybe I didn't have enough of that cinnamon bun to suffer lasting effects. Maybe that's all that will come of it. Maybe…But I doubt it._

"Are you even listening to me?" he said, pulling her back to Earth (or wherever they were.)

"What? Of course," she said, then felt her mind start to wonder again.

Somewhere in the back of her mind she felt guilty but she was shaken. Her brain needed to assess the situation, break it down piece by piece, dip into every nook and cranny trying to make since of it. The dam of thoughts had already come crashing down and she couldn't wait for his response to immerse herself in them.

_What's going on here? I _know_ I heard the Lone Power laugh, which means something has to be up, unless he somehow didn't realize I hadn't gotten enough of the cinnamon bun or something, but that would be strange…_

"Why did you eat the food?" he said.

He looked more bemused then she felt. She felt a twinge of sympathy before his words hit her and she internally pulled away.

_Why did I? _she shook herself of the guilt that accompanied the thought._ Buddy, _(she wasn't sure whether she was addressing him or her mind, nor did she know when she'd turned into Dairine)_ I've moved passed that already, I'm trying to figure out just what eating the food did to me…_

"Nita?" he said. "Nita? Answer me! _Nita_!"

"Yes?" she snapped.

She was right in front of him; he didn't have to shout…

He blinked at her in surprise, "Are you alright?"

She rolled her eyes, "_Yes,_ I'm alright. It doesn't seem like I should be alright, but I am. It's weird. In fact, in a way, I feel better then before. My head's clearer."

She was speaking more to herself then him now, saying these things as she was noticed them.

She looked up at the swelling clouds. Still not a drop was falling, but she could smell the rain in the air. It was refreshing, really…

"Apparently," he said, sounding irritated, but it did nothing to mask his worry.

Once again she felt her thoughts scatter and became frustrated. She was about to glare at him but he was saved a thorough roasting from her eyes when she suddenly caught herself. Why was he annoying her so much? When had his voice become like a fly buzzing in her ear, worth no more emotional exertion then a stab of annoyance prompting her to instinctually shoo it away?

"Kit…" she said, then stopped.

She didn't know what to say next. She didn't understand what was going on with her. She felt fine in essence, yet oddly uncomfortable. Something wasn't right. Something she couldn't quite put her finger on…

"Yes…?" he said.

She jumped. And there her thoughts went again, scattered all over the place! She really wished he'd stop doing that…That was it. She was mad at him because she was trying to think and he kept interrupting her at the most inopportune of times. It was the same annoyance she felt whenever Dairine bothered her in the middle of studying and made her lose her train of thought. He couldn't tell that she needed to be left alone. They just weren't on the same page.

Not on the same page at all…

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AN: AH! -cringes at the atrocity she had produced- The next chapter will be better. Try as I might I couldn't get this chapter _right_, all the worst lines held necessary information, and I couldn't get rid of them. Review, anyway, please?**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: LODSKEDEFF!**

**In other words, no, I do not own it.

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4.)

Kit was worried, very much so. Nita wasn't responding. She'd said his name once, but nothing after that. Had it been some sort of cry for help? He didn't know what to think or do. He felt cut off from her and he didn't like it.

"Kit," she said again, but the word seemed to just skim the surface of his mind before disappearing, unimportant.

The situation itself was very important, but her words no longer were. She wasn't using them to try and connect with him; it was as if she were merely casting them off into the air. His name, on her lips, meant nothing anymore. It was as if the air was Kit, or the road was Kit. She wasn't letting the _person_ in.

"Something's wrong," she said slowly.

Again the words fell and shattered, and the pieces cut at his heart. _He_ knew something was wrong. She was the one who didn't understand. She was the one who was the one sitting in front of him breaking his heart, leaving him, not physically, but by means that were a thousand times worse.

Internally he shouted her name but it meant nothing. The air could have been Nita, the road could have been Nita, the person just wasn't there, and by choice.

"I'm…I just…I'll figure out what it is, just be quiet for second," she said.

He couldn't have spoken if he'd tried. The look on her face and in her eyes was the look of someone who _just wasn't there_. Someone lost and confused, like a small child or a fading elder, their face twisted in concentration, the frustration of someone who just can't grasp something clear, but they're convinced they can and won't stop trying.

Nita was gone.

He turned his head away and took several deep breaths, as if looking at her—or perhaps tearing his eyes away—had been difficult and laborious.

Where was his Nita? Where _was_ she? And where was he? What was this awful place?

More deep breaths.

He turned back, not sure what he was looking for or expecting to find. What he found was an empty street. Nothing was there. Nothing.

Nita was gone, and in more ways then one now.

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Nita felt strange.

When she talked to Kit she heard the words, but only as they came out, and then the air seemed to swallow them up leaving ringing silence. It felt like she could scream and it wouldn't make any more impact then her breathing did. It confused her, and the thoughts in her head were so…definite, like they were all that existed. At this point the world just faded away, nothing around her was of consequence and everything inside her seemed infinite. She _was_ the universe.

She felt herself stand and put one foot in front of the other. The earth was solid beneath her feet, but it seemed to grow only less so as she continued. Stopping made it worse so she didn't do it. She needed to move, she needed to fill the air. Everything was empty otherwise.

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Kit couldn't focus. He realized this now. Everything kept distracting him; his train of thought had gone barreling out of control.

He needed to concentrate, he needed to _think_…about what? There was a certain attraction in this place to letting every single thought that entered your conscious swim around loose and lose yourself. What was the importance of thinking about any one thing, when so many things were available to be devoured by the ravenous mind? When all the energy he had could cause all these light bulbs in his head to burn with glaring brilliance for a fantastic, fleeting moment, why waste it on keeping just one bulb lit for a long amount of time? This place was so dreary but his thoughts could add color to anything.

Yet…somehow that wasn't okay. There was something that needed his attention, something that kept nagging at him, a thought that wouldn't leave him alone. Something inside him, different from all the things outside that captivated his attention, something somehow _separate_, in a way that felt odd. Nothing else felt separate.

This whole world, in a way, felt like it was somehow like the clothes he wore. An accessory, nothing more, just an inanimate object in his immediate vicinity, nothing was there for him.

The rocks weren't alive here. Nor was the technology or the buildings…he was the only thing with life here.

The only…

Or was he…?

That nagging thought…

That separate…

_That_…

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Nita put one foot in front of the other.

One foot in front of the other.

One foot…one foot too far…

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And then they both heard the Lone Power's laugh and felt it in their bones and hearts. They looked up just in time to see each other.

_Where did she come from? I was just there._

_How did he get there? That's where I just was._

And those were the last thoughts they had before their worlds went dark.

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AN: Okay, I admit it, this is, indeed, a filler chapter, but there are also clues in there as to where Kit and Nita are and what's going on.**

**Over 300 hits and only 13 reviews, should I take that as a sign? **


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: No, already!

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5.)

The world had fallen away. That's the only way Nita could describe it. There had been times when she'd looked into Kit's eyes and felt like everything around them had disappeared, but now it had really happened.

She was standing, though there was nothing recognizable as a solid surface beneath her. Was she unconscious again? She hadn't eaten anymore food. And why was Kit still there? Was she imagining him?

Yet…he hardly seemed there at all. She was looking right at him, but she was having the same wistful, longing feeling she got when looking at the ocean from a distance. Like she could hear the waves, could _taste_ the saltwater, but was worlds away from the real thing.

Like she'd never get there.

Like it was a thing of the past.

The laugh sounded again, breaking her out of her thoughts. It was not a pleasant sound.

**_You've done it. You've done it! You've proven it can be done. And if it can be done to _you_…_**

The voice was triumphant, dangerously excited. It made her cringe, and she shut her eyes as though that could block it out. In doing so she broke whatever semblance of a connection with Kit she had left. It was a thoughtless action, and as her eyelids found one another she felt them sealing her off as heavy and horrible as a physical blow.

She was so alone now, so cold.

So cold…

And her eyes snapped open. Kit was still in front of her, maybe ten feet away, but she wasn't seeing him, not really…

She felt the same. All of it, it was exactly the same…

Here in the darkness it seemed as if she was alone. As if she was all that existed. As if she _was_ the universe. Kit was there, but how firm a foundation did that give her, anyway? She knew she yell and scream at him as much as she wanted, and it would be swallowed into the abyss. She could throw out every line she had, but she'd never get a bite.

She felt a chilling fear. She was waiting, tension building in her body, feeling like she was walking headfirst into a trap…But, was this not the trap already? Was she not exactly where the Lone Power wanted her? What was left to walk headfirst into now? Her death?

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AN: I know, I know, it's been too long and this is too short, and, when it comes down to it, basically just another filler. I'm trying, but my life is currently chaos. The next chapter will be longer if it kills me and (hopefully) I'll get it out soon.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: No, already!

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6.)

Kit felt Nita break the eye contact. He didn't just see it, he _felt_ it.

He was weary of all this by now. Nita, no Nita, connection, no connection, world, no world, Lone Power, no Lone Power...meaning, no meaning…

Well, that was just it, right there, wasn't it? Things didn't feel alive anymore, life didn't feel alive anymore. It was all worry and confusion, scattered emotions and scatterbrained thoughts.

For a brief moment he was reminded of when he'd caught (if that was even the right word) some of Darryl's autism.

On some level he noticed that Nita was looking at him again, but this couldn't be eye contact when there was no feeling of connect.

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Nita was thinking the same thing.

How had they gotten lost from each other? How could they get back? _What_ was going on here? There were all these alarm bells going off in her head, putting together a distorted picture, making connections she hadn't seen and lighting everything up. She was so close…but she couldn't put her finger on it, couldn't wrap her mind all the way around. All she knew is she felt _lost_…it was almost funny in the most horrible way.

She had been stranded on an empty planet with no means of getting home and just now was she feeling lost? But it was true that reality was crashing down on her now, harsh and unsympathetic. She felt like she there was nothing to do, no room to maneuver. She felt like she was falling helplessly, tumbling through this void of…_emptiness_. It was all empty. Meaningless. Whether she was conscious or unconscious, whether there was landscape stretching around her or nothing but blackness, she felt all the same things. Hopelessness, numbness and the overwhelming feeling of being…_alone_. What was this? What new level had the Lone Power sunk to?

**_Oh, you'd like to blame me, wouldn't you?_ **The voice was so cold she couldn't stop shudder from overtaking her body. **_That's the only reason you're not seeing it. Love is blind, and we love ourselves most of all. That's why there's so much hate, only the things outside of us give us reason to see flaws within. And people blame me for the emotion! Love came first and made hate not only possible, but inescapable. I am flattered by the compliment, however. But back to you. How do you like your handiwork? _**

Nita froze. She didn't know what He was talking about, and yet…it was a feeling a hundred times stronger then that of foreboding she felt, it was like she _knew_ what was coming next but it couldn't be put into words, her body could only manage to express it in horrible unease and a writhing in her stomach.

_**Don't tell me you still don't understand. Am I not spelling it out for you? Let's see if I can't make it clearer still. The boy…**_

Nita only faintly register the sharp intake of breath as hers, it felt like the air had been knocked out of her and she still couldn't process what she was feeling, or anything else…

**_You two have been a bit out of sync, but how could you not be? He's stopped understanding you. Funny, that, isn't it? He no longer has anything to contribute, it seems. He feels like nothing but a distraction. You can't have that. You need to figure this out. Your thoughts are filling your head, zooming by and through and out and you can't take the time to explain a one for fear of losing them all. It would be too risky, not to mention slow and plain bothersome. And you just want to find out where you are…And he'd like to know where you are, too. He thinks he means it in a different sense, but he has no idea. Neither of you do. You can't see it. You can't see it because you can't see anything _but_ it…And if it works this well on _you_…_**

The voice trailed off but Nita could still sense if very much present. He was waiting for her to figure this out.

_That makes two of us_, she thought unhappily.

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**AN: I know, I know, it's been too long, but life is hectic. I'll try and get the next chapter written and out some time next week but since the holidays are coming up and my birthday is just after the holidays my like is going to be even more chaotic then usual…and that's a thought that gives me nightmares. Every review makes me try harder.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: Definition? Duh, Diane Duane's, dude.

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7.)

Nita wasn't sure how much time passed as she stood there, all she knew was it suddenly all weighed down on her, stretching her far and thin, until she was _fed up_. She was sick of this helplessness, of this passiveness, of this waiting for some sort of miracle, taking no action and everything staying the same. This wasn't how she operated. She was alive, wasn't she? She wasn't even injured (though she still wasn't sure whether or not she was conscious…), was she just going to roll over in surrender? She felt hot all over, the cold chased out for the first time since she'd arrived in the horrible place to begin with. The whole thing had thrown her world off its axis, but no more. Nita Callahan did not go down without a fight.

Normally her definition of a fight did not mean sitting down and closing her eyes, but she needed to think. She needed to _focus_. She needed a plan, a strategy, or at least a clue. No more foggy bemusement, she was going to clear the mess in her head up. She went over the day's events in her head.

They'd been in her backyard, nothing out of the ordinary…She'd closed her eyes, much like she was doing now, focusing on some sort of thought. _I_…was all that internal voice that narrated her reflections had time to say before suddenly she and Kit were whisked away. It reminded her of going _sideways_ back in Ireland, but back then she'd had to focus on some relic, this had happened when she'd been turned completely inward. She didn't remember now what she'd been thinking about. It had seemed important at the time but in light of the following events, not so much.

The place, in an odd way, had been hard to digest. She probably stood there, blinking dumbly, long enough to cause a hurricane with the air sliding from her eyelashes. When Kit had said something at last she'd jumped. She'd almost forgotten he was there. He was yet another thing on top of all the others that were just so hard to take in. It was a lot, too much.

Somehow they'd agreed to split up, and then…it had all felt so strange, like there were people hiding behind every corner, and at the same time like she was overwhelmingly alone. In an odd way, it was as if she was the one watching herself, the one waiting behind every corner, in every nook and cranny, staring up at her from every surface…

_That's the only reason you're not seeing it. Love is blind, and we love ourselves most of all… How do you like your handiwork?_…_You can't see it because you can't see anything _but_ it… _

She gasped, eyes flying open. No. _No_. It couldn't be…

_**So, finally figured it out have you? Then you know, Nita Callahan, that you have lost, once and for all.**_

And then all she could hear was that horrible, horrible laugh.

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AN: Yes, it's pathetic, and I apologize. Life as I know it has become a living chaos complete with cousins and half gallons of milk (don't ask.) To my loyal reviewers, I don't deserve you! I really did mean to get this out earlier, and to make it longer…Tell you what, if I get five reviews for this pitiful chapter I PROMISE, upon receiving review number five, I will sit down, no matter what else I should be doing, and write nonstop until I have a decent eighth chapter. And now I have put it in writing and can't back down.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: No.

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8.)

It didn't seem right; she'd have thought it would be perfect…

_**Nothing is perfect when cast into the light. In the beginning of your life, when you thought you were all that existed, when you couldn't imagine anything separate from yourself, then, in the few instances when you were entirely satisfied—not sleepy, not hungry, free of pain—this world was perfect. But you've tasted better, seen nicer, recognized your own faults and have become unsatisfied. You're emotions have become too developed. You have thirsts that can't be quenched easily. You yearn for more then what lies at your fingertips. **_

_**Therefore, this world will never be enough for you. You're not enough for you. Odd, then, isn't it, that you're all you want? That all anyone wants is themselves and their own opinions and ideas and thoughts. None of you humans can get over yourselves; the thickest wall to block out the world is the human skull.**_

_My world_, she thought. _My world…_

It was a concept she couldn't swallow. It was too big to go down.

_Of course it is_, she thought, dryly. _It's a whole world after all_…_a whole _universe_…But, wait…Then how come Kit's here?_

**_He isn't_, **said the Lone Power. **_He's in his own world. Not at first, he was quite stubborn, hanging on as tightly as possivle to his connection with you, the only thing outside of himself he had left. But you finally succeeded in cutting yourself off from him. The cinnamon bun helped, of course. It was something inside you, to keep you grounded to this place, to make you invest yourself further into the illusion. What? Still confused? Let me see if I can't make this _painfully_ clear. _**

_**You were both sucked into your own world. It mirrored your planet Earth, since you consider that your home, only you were both alone, of course. However, neither of you would let go of the other completely. But that was to be easily remedied. **_

**_You got hungry, you smelled the steaming hot cinnamon buns and you ate one. Now this place was ingrained into you. Not that it hadn't been already, it had _come_ from you. But, now you were more immersed in it, farther and farther away from your attachment to any and all things outside. I had to pull you deeper, shake you up a bit, but in the end you did it all for yourself. You left the boy. _**

_**He tried to find you but ended up tangled in his own thoughts, it was impossible for him not to. There was only one thing left to make you completely seal yourself off. And it was nothing I could do for you, no, I had to wait patiently, bide my time. And it paid off. You two, already so close to where I wanted you to be, pulled yourselves the rest of the way in one simple way: you walked right through the other. At this point you were so detached that you were no longer solid in each others' worlds, only a shadow to each other, and this sent you the rest of the way. So wrapped up in your thoughts the two of you were that when—on the very deepest level—you picked up a hint of the other, you pulled away so not to compromise yourself. You broke off. **_

_**Now seeing each other, being right in front of the other, it doesn't matter. You will never have a connection with one another or anything outside of yourself again.

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**AN: Right, thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter. Same deal where I may update at some point, eventually, but I promise to update immediatly if I get five reviews. As for this chapter? Bleck, I'm not even going to comment. I'll leave that to you. I hope it wasn't terribly confusing…if the "walked through each other thing" doesn't make since, go back to the end of chapter four…**


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: No matter how much I weep, no.

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9.)

Nita listened to the voice with a mounting sense of horror, but found she couldn't tear her eyes away from Kit.

_What do we do now?_

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Kit saw Nita looking at him. The look was…haunted, and it gave him a pang. What was going on? Was the Lone Power talking to her? He felt hot all over. He wanted to help her. He wanted to be with her. He didn't want to feel cut off anymore. What was this barrier between them? Why wouldn't it _die_? 

_**Foolish boy, haven't you figured it out, yet?**_

Kit face grew hard at the sound of the voice. It didn't seem to mind.

**_What's the one place you can never escape? The one _person_ you can never escape? Oh, you'd like to think it's the girl, wouldn't you? No, she's removed herself from you all on her own. It doesn't matter that you're looking right at her, she's unreachable. Not that she was ever attainable for you, anyway…_**

Kit ground his teeth.

_**For all intensive purposes it's only me and you now. And I'm only sticking around until you work this out. Then I'll leave you to your fate. Who will you have, then, Kit? Think…**_

_Only myself, what's he getting at? _Kit thought, looking intently at Nita as if that would somehow close the distance between them, as if that would fix everything…

_**You are even slower than the girl, not that I hadn't always expected as much. She's already figured it out. She's succumbed to her misery.**_

Kit felt rage flare inside him in a fire he was sure must shoot out of his eyes, if not every fiber of his being.

_What have you done to Nita?_

It didn't matter that the Lone Power had clearly done it to him, too. Such information was completely irrelevant.

_**She chose her own fate, I just provided her with an additional option to the many she already had open. You've done the same thing, so don't play the macho protector. You're no stronger than she and you can't help her. No one can help you. You're both on your own, now. You've chosen that. You tried to hang on to her, yes, but you let yourself be distracted. You had your own stuff, your own thoughts and you let that take first priority. You've been taken in by what you've put out and now you can't handle it? There are some people who get under your skin, but the one person you humans can't stand the most never comes out of it.**_

_What's he getting at? _Kit thought.

_**Foolish boy. What's the one place you take with you wherever you go? The one constant and one setting where you always feel you have control. Except when she's involved.**_

Kit felt nervous at these words for some reason.

**_She throws it all out of orbit. Shakes you up and floors you. She makes everything look different, and things have never been the same. You feel threatened by the emotion, don't pretend you don't, you humans feel threatened by anything that feels bigger than yourselves. Secretly some part of you, on some level, wanted the control that came with separation. If it hadn't this wouldn't have happened. This isn't _my_ fault. I just used it to my advantage. You did all the important stuff on your own. You made your choice._**

Kit felt a sinking sensation in his stomach…_How is it I'm not even entirely sure what's going on here yet I still somehow know it's so terrible?_

The only answer he received was a laugh.

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**AN: Sorry it's so late. I'd make excuses but you wouldn't believe me if I told you.**

**Please review! And thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter!**


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer: Unless you all know something I don't…**

**AN: Thank you to all who reviewed the last chapter! I'm SO sorry this took so long to get out! I had a midterm I needed to cram for and then right after that we went on vacation, and on top of that my life is just absurdly busy...But here it is!

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10.)

Nita felt that fire in her start again. She seemed to be drowning in a void of helplessness, but the more helpless she felt the fiercer her determination to _get out_ was. This wasn't okay. This was _not_ okay.

Her vision was blurred. Tears? Kit…

He was right there. So close but so unreachable…

_Why? _Spat her brain.

He was right there. What was stopping her? Fear? As if she could avoid that no matter what she did at this point…what did she have to lose?

And, really, since when did she abide by the Lone Power's rules anyway? What was _wrong _with her? This was _her_ world…_her world_…it was her choice…

Her choice.

She didn't give it a second thought. She picked up her feet and moved with urgent, jerky steps, walking as fast as possible without breaking into a run.

Words and pictures flashed through her mind, stretched and distorted. Things from long ago…

"Because this is _my_ universe, and _I_ say what goes here…if this is going to be a battleground, _I_ make the rules."

She could see her mom clearly now, rising against the Lone Power, a force not to be reckoned with. Just the picture in her head and she realized she was standing straighter, taller. She could feel the fire in her eyes. Eyes trained on him. Her anchor. Her objective.

And possibly her last hope.

She half expected it to be like one of those dreams where the more you kept walking the farther away you got, but before she knew it she was standing right in front of him. He looked just as surprised as she did.

She hesitated with a mounting sense of foreboding, an expectation that crackled in the air as if the space itself were cackling at her foolishness. Her helplessness. Her denial.

She found she couldn't look him in the eye, afraid of disappointment, of anything less than her highest hopes.

And then she realized how silly all of this was.

Without another thought she collapsed against him, not crying but far from composed.

And for a moment nothing felt wrong. He put his arms around her. Not tightly, but comfortingly. Then the world as she knew it seemed to shatter into a million pieces as realization hit.

He was cold. He was…it wasn't him, either, she knew. The fault didn't lie there. It was as if her senses didn't extend to him. Physically he was _there_, but she had no connection with him. All that was "real" to her anymore was _her_, and all that was truly real couldn't enter. Couldn't compute. Couldn't…she couldn't…they couldn't…

_No…

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**AN: Yes, yes, I know, it's a pitifully short chapter, especially for such a long wait, but I'm working on getting the next one out as soon as possible…thank you for your patience!**

**If I'm checking my e-mail it means I have a spare moment, and if I have a spare moment and I'm checking my e-mail it means I'm not writing in that spare moment, but if in my inbox there's a message telling me I have a review my conscience will have no choice but to FORCE me to work on the next chapter. See how nicely that works?**


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer: Not mine.

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11.)

He knew something wasn't right from the beginning. It was too good to be true for her to suddenly just be _there_. And when he held her he realized what it was. She _wasn't_ there. Or rather _she_ was, but he wasn't. If that made any sense…It was like he was everywhere else, was aware of everywhere else, but his radar didn't extend to the girl right in front of him. He couldn't take her in.

It might have been silly but it just made him squeeze tighter…or maybe that was his muscles tensing? No, it wasn't, he wasn't playing the excuses game anymore. He found himself holding her closer than he'd ever dared before, cradling her against him. It didn't really matter now, after all. He had nothing to lose, and maybe, just maybe, everything he could dream of to gain.

Was it working? No. But he chose to ignore this fact.

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It was so simple. They weren't connecting, this was true. This was the worst, most painful of truths, but when he tightened his arms around her, her stomach flipped. It was a sensation she was very much acquainted with, it had been happening more and more around him lately. She wondered what fool came up with the term "butterflies." It was a jolt far beyond butterflies. Then again, she'd heard somewhere that even a butterfly could be the start of a hurricane with a motion of its wings…But, whatever the term, it was the sign she needed. 

It didn't matter that there was some boundary between them, some kind-of net holding them back. All her feelings for him were still there, a whirling tornado of delicious chaos that whipped her heart and left an ache. That didn't go away just because, in some sense, he had. Her feelings for him were a part of her.

And as long as she felt this strongly about him there _had_ to be a way for them to reconnect. It just had to be possible. She'd go to the ends of the Earth, the ends of the universe, the end of the end.

As soon as she figured out just how she was supposed to start.

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He inhaled, trying to breathe her in, just trying to _let_ her in. He let all thoughts leave his mind. He couldn't be bothered with his common sense right now, all that was left was a determination—or was it desperation—to find some way, _some_ way, to fix this.

He exhaled.

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She felt his breath on her hair. They were so close, yet so… 

She broke away suddenly, and pulled back to look at him. She needed to see his eyes.

He was surprised by the action, and, for just a moment, she saw in those eyes just how lost he was.

As she met his gaze she let her emotions fill her to the brim, hoping he could see something in her too. She let it all spill over and come out, and felt the tears start.

He reached up a hand to wipe them away. And then, together, they froze.

Together, they leaned in.

Together…they came together.

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AN: Gah! I'm SO sorry it's taken this long! Everything from family vacations to family crises (which can be the same thing) got in the way. The next one will be out sooner… **

**Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed! I mean it!**


	12. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer: Me? Own it? I'm not even going to dignify that with a response.**

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12.) 

It was like warmth and color, pushing and pulling, spinning and spilling, light and life…It was like their minds could take finally take a breath, while their bodies couldn't breathe. It was like submerging…merging…

It was every contradiction imaginable working together. It was fierce and gentle, deep yet clearly just the surface of what could be. Time stopped, but everything flared into life.

And they were so completely, fully and wholly…together.

It was an explosion in their minds and hearts, a roaring in their ears and souls. Feeling each other, breathing each other, pouring all their selves into the other…they were one.

And all those people who said it was like a dance, they were right.

And all those people who said it was like a dream, they were right.

And all those people who said it wasn't so special, that what made it the incredible thing it was were the feelings behind it, the potential of what it could mean…they were right.

This was hyped up more intense than it might have been under other circumstances. They weren't holding back. They had found the door and jumped headfirst through it. But it was still so simple, so natural.

Warmth and color, pushing and pulling, spinning and spilling, light and life…and calm.

But not once they had pulled away.

There was a lurch as if the earth underneath them, if there was truly any to speak of, had moved. And then the world seemed to splint. Light had broken through the black. But it wasn't a good sort of light, or at the very least a harmless one. It was like lightning or fire or far worse things, and it was pulling everything apart.

The outline of what Nita recognized as the Lone Power's "human" form appeared with a very ugly look on its face.

_**So you've found a flaw in the design. You're still not getting out of here. Your worlds can't possibly merge safely while you're in them. It will kill you, and the spell…A minor loss for me, but you losing everything will be somewhat of a slight compensation. Two less hindrances for future plans.**_

He glared at them, his face not nearly as calm as his voice, but just before he disappeared a smirk broke through his features. Then he was gone.

And it only seemed to get worse after that. It was as if space was pulling itself apart and they were in the middle of it. And it was in the middle of them, or somewhere deeper than their center or their being at all. They were connected to, harboring, _being_ this chaos. There was tugging and pressing, everything around them rebounding just as clearly and devastatingly within. Their world was crashing down around them and they themselves were crumbling with it.

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**AN: Summer's coming…that traditionally means more free time, but knowing my life…I'm going to work like crazy to get the next chapter out within a reasonable span of time, I swear! Don't kill me! Or at least grant me one last wish and review…**


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